JEFFERSON CITY – This month, MBC-affiliated churches and associational offices are receiving a soft-cover copy of the 2024 Generosity Report. The report highlights the many ways Missouri Baptists invest in missions across our state, throughout North America, and around the world. The report replaces both the Annual Giving Report, inserted each spring in The Pathway, and the mid-year report in August. The 2024 Generosity Report is available now online at mobaptist.org/gr and will be shared … [Read more...]
Seniors find fruitful ministry in Missouri Disaster Relief amid tornado response
ST. LOUIS – About 15 years ago when she was in her mid-60s, Glenda Townsend began serving with Missouri Disaster Relief with her husband Ben. Recently, she deployed to east central Missouri to maintain the ministry’s laundry and shower trailer for crews working in the St. Louis area following tornados there in mid-March. She says the relief organization is one where older adults can make an effective contribution even if they don't want to be part of the physically demanding chainsaw and … [Read more...]
MODR responds to March tornadoes
JEFFERSON CITY (MODR) – Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief (MODR) demonstrated the love of Christ, March 14, bringing help, hope and healing to Missouri communities following a night of death and destruction caused by tornadoes. Hours after the storm’s aftermath, MODR volunteers met to assess needs and plan a course of action. Soon afterward, they set up response units in Rolla, Des Arc and Arnold. Heading the teams were Ann Stevenson, Tom Malott and Toby Tucker, respectively. Disaster … [Read more...]
Tornadoes, heavy winds impact Missouri communities, MBC churches
ARNOLD, Mo. – The First Baptist Church of Arnold canceled services on Sunday, March 16, holding online worship only. Their building was impacted by a band of tornadoes that stretched across several states from Texas to Illinois on Friday evening, March 14. The Missouri Highway Patrol said there were at least 12 fatalities caused by the 19 reported tornadoes. ABC News was reporting around 40 dead across several midwestern and southern states from the storms, as of Sunday, March 16. … [Read more...]
‘Hear my cry for mercy’: MODR volunteers bring hope to California fire survivors
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (MODR) – Following any disaster, it’s only natural that the survivors want to recover anything that hasn’t been destroyed. It doesn’t matter whether they’ve experienced a flood, tornado or hurricane. The natural response is to locate any belongings that may have survived. Unfortunately, the situation is usually much worse following a widespread fire like those that occurred in Hawaii in August 2023 and more recently in southern California. When the entire house burns to … [Read more...]
Continued Hurricane Helene response requires flexibility
BURNSVILLE, N.C. – A common motto among Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief (MODR) volunteers is to always “Be Flexible”. That has certainly been the case with response to Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida over four months ago. MODR volunteers initially responded by providing chainsaw teams, mass feeding teams and shower and laundry units to Augusta, Ga., in a matter of days. To that end, MODR volunteers completed 52 days of service, helped complete 477 chainsaw jobs, helped … [Read more...]
Missouri DR’s Ann Stevenson receives national award
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Anyone who knows Ann Stevenson is used to seeing her with a chaplain’s shirt and badge—accompanied by her trauma-trained dog, Steele—as she visits with victims of disaster. Or maybe they’ve seen her provide key leadership in MODR childcare. However, Stevenson recently took versatility to another level when she coordinated two disaster relief responses in Pulaski County, where she lives, within seven months of each other. That’s just one of the reasons she was … [Read more...]
Missouri DR volunteers go extra mile in relief efforts
PERRYVILLE, Mo. – “Helping churches transform lives and communities with the gospel by bringing help, hope, and healing” is the motivating force behind the Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief (MODR). Putting feet to the ground, two MODR teams recently did just that in the communities of Waynesville, Duke and Perryville, Mo. Not only did they provide the tools to repair damaged property, but they shared God’s love to repair damaged lives. It was this past November when MODR unit leader Dan … [Read more...]
2024 MMO receipts set record, exceeding $1 million
JEFFERSON CITY – Receipts for the 2024 Rheubin L. South Missouri Missions Offering exceeded $1 million, crossing that threshold for the first time and setting a record for giving by Missouri Baptists to state mission projects ranging from foster care to disaster relief. MMO receipts in 2024, which are disbursed in 2025, totaled $1,072,207, far outpacing the goal of $760,000 and shattering the previous record of $990,740 set in 2022. Assisted by an estate gift totaling $136,000, the … [Read more...]
First-Person: ‘No better way to spend a summer’ than with Missouri DR
EDITOR'S NOTE: College student Michelle Ryan has served for a few years as a collegiate intern with Missouri Disaster Relief (MODR). JEFFERSON CITY (MODR) – With the devastating scale of this year’s hurricane destruction filling the news, human efforts to help can feel futile. That feeling of despair and the inability to do something eventually gives way to a much more tolerable feeling of apathy, which I believe characterizes the attitudes of many college students like me. After all, … [Read more...]
First Baptist Church, Elsey, sustains damage in tornado
CRANE, Mo. – The First Baptist Church of Elsey, located near Crane, sustained roof damages in a tornado on Monday night, Nov. 4. The church building has pretty serious roof damage from a tornado that struck about 6:15 that evening. The National Weather service indicated the path of the EF-0 tornado was about 1.5 miles, touching down about a mile west of the church. One other home was reported to have damage from the twister. The Branson Tri-Lakes newspaper reported the tornado was about … [Read more...]
Fowler shares vision for Missouri Baptist Convention staff
ST. CHARLES – A year ago, newly elected Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Executive Director Wes Fowler introduced himself to Missouri Baptists on the annual meeting stage in Springfield. Earlier this week, after a year of traveling the state, meeting with hundreds of Missouri Baptists, and analyzing data about their churches, Fowler shared his vision for the MBC staff he leads. “Our pastors, DOMs, and ministry leaders care deeply about the spiritual condition of our state,” he told … [Read more...]
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